Deo Parere Libertas Est: Stoic Echoes in Wittgenstein’s Conception of Destiny

My aim in this paper is to examine some aspects of the relationship between the concepts of God, destiny, and happiness in Wittgenstein’s writings. The analysis is done—to use an expression of the philosopher’s own—by contrast with and against the background of Roman Stoicism’s views on this matter, mainly Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. The different uses of the concept of God that appeared in their texts are analysed, and the relationship between the notions of destiny, self-sufficiency, and happiness is clarified. Several similarities between Wittgenstein and Roman Stoics are traced, among others, those relating to the sense of the principle of distinction between what depends on oneself and what does not, the primacy of inner life as an absolute alternative to the impossible mastery of the world of facts, and the ideas of a serene acceptance of adversity and of happiness as peace of mind.